By 1pm the low clouds had pushed off to the south east far enough for us to reach our practice area for ground reference maneuvers. I did the pre-flight checks on the Cessna 152, I could certainly tell a difference when I checked the rudder for free movement, it used to swing all the way to the stops with a light push, but the new tensioning springs were returning it to center very nicely. We had plenty of fuel, due to the aborted flight earlier, and everything else checked out fine, so I headed back inside for a little ground school before the flight.
Bob and I went over how the different cockpit instruments actually get their information, using outside air pressure for the Vertical Speed Indicator and Altimeter, air flow for the Airspeed Indicator, vacuum powered gyroscopes for the Directional Gyro and Artificial Horizon, and an electrically powered gyro for the Turn Coordinator. We talked about compass deviation, how magnetic north is drifting toward the west 1/10th of a degree per year, how the different electronics in the aircraft might cause the compass to read incorrectly, and having to compensate for lag when using the compass to turn to a heading. We also went over the basics of how the engine operates.
We went back outside to the Cessna, got the latest weather information, got the airplane started and got taxi clearance to the runway.
Everything checked out during the run-up checks, so we got to the runway, got the takeoff clearance and headed to the south. We did an engine failure simulation on the way to the practice area. I wonder how many of the homeowners in the countryside south of the airport are used to getting buzzed by student pilots, I guess if they want us to leave them alone, they should make their nicely mowed fields less attractive.
After the go-around for the emergency landing, we climbed back up to 1500 feet and started looking for a convenient road intersection for our turns-around-a-point. We soon found one, and as the wind was coming from the south, we flew past, then turned back around to the north as the maneuver requires a downwind start. We did two left turn circles around the intersection, using the bank angle of the wings to compensate for the wind trying to blow us away to the north, then turned back around to the south so we could use the same road for our S-Turns.
After four or five passes back and forth over the road Bob told me to head back toward Riverside Airport. We tuned back to ATIS for the latest weather, and got handed back to the Riverside tower controllers. When you first talk to a controller on approach, all you need to tell them is who you are, where you are, and that you are inbound. For whatever reason, I told them I was inbound for 19L, which isn't the runway we wanted to use anyway. Fortunately as we were approaching the airport they re-directed us to 19R. I guess they must be used to students messing up on the radio, but its still annoying to me to be saying the wrong things.
As I turned around toward the runway on Final, the wind was really knocking us around, I had to crab in toward the runway, and Bob had to remind me to keep the nose over or we would land long, I eventually got the plane where I wanted it, and squeaked a reasonable touchdown at the last moment.
We taxiied back to the parking area, got the plane shut down, and heard the unmistakable sound of a large radial engine, times two. The hanger just across one of the access roads was open, and parked outside with both engines idling was a B-25!I really need to start taking my camera with me, hopefully I can get a picture of it some time, I found this one of the actual airplane on Flickr though, so it will do for now.
More to come!
-Gareth
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